Home on the Range

Well he is home again. We finally arrived home Wednesday (It was supposed to be three days earlier, welcome to the military way). The kids were so happy to have him home. Abby hung on to his leg for 2 days. We are headed for moms this weekend to spend time with the family. Stoney and his kids are coming in. Evans mom also. Planning a big rib and beer dinner... oh how I love ribs!

This month is cram packed with events for us. Not only dealing with school and the various normal activities tht keep our life busy, but also the BBQ, A weekend away for our anniversary, a cardinals game in St.Louis, and last we are headed to Chicago to finally lay Evans Dad to rest in a miltary cemetary. So loads of traveling in store for us.

Hopefully after that things will calm down. And maybe we can reach so sort of normal routine around here. We are already gearing up for the holidays, making plans, and creating menus.

I am sorry this has been so brief... hopefully I can give more details and pictures as things progress. I just wanted everyone to know the he was home safe and we all survived another deployment. Your prayers have been working...

Love to all.. Shelly

Long summer

Well it is that time again... the time where I feel guilty for not having kept up with my blog! I hope this finds you all well... in the meantime... everyone should grab a snack, coffee, whatever because it is ggoing to take awhile to catch everyone up.

Lets start with Evan leaving... Evan deployed in May. He will be returning to us sometime in Sept. Yep we are getting close and all are very excited here. He has had a pretty good deployment but is ready to be home again. The sad news for us is that he will be leaving in January for BAGDAD. So though his time is short here... we will make the best of it.

To start my summer off I landscaped the front lawn... It looked fabulous. However, like 2 weeks after I finished a tornado came through with boat loads of rain and together they swept away my landscaping... and all the gravel under my driveway. I had 2 feet of water that rushed around my house like a river, bringing mud and debris with it. Also that little tornado brought down several limbs from my trees and tore up the roof. So my front lawn had about 3 feet of gravel and mud on top of it, my roof was tore up, trees were down... and I was a mess!

The family stepped up to the plate. We got the yard cleaned up, my mother in law helped me to relandscape again, and the insurance paid for a new roof. So back we were to square one. Since then I have painted my front porch, built a deck on the back of the house (Evan's anniversary present, our 10 year was in July), and had some friends down to trim all the trees. The limbs and brush are currently laying in my lawn... looks like wwIII around here. But I have plans to have all that cleaned up very soon.

I have redone both bathroms in the house. They needed a face life and look much better. I bought new towels for each, since the last ones I bought were 10 years old I thought it was time. I had both vehicles worked on and got them back on there feet so to speak, I even had Evans rims repainted. There has been so much going on I have not even had time to enjoy the summer and now it has passed me by as we head into fall.

The kids are back in school. Abby is in 3rd and Cody 8th. Cody is ALL AP classes this year. It is going to be a long year for him.

I am going to post a few pics if I can... I hope everyone is fine... God Bless and keep you till we meet again! Shelly

update

A quick update....

School is wrapping up for the kids. Abby made the honor roll. She is quite proud of that. Cody has been choosen for the Harrison Traveling baseball team. It is a real honor. We are all excited about that. And Evan leaves on the 8th. We are very busy right now and things are a bit crazy... but hopefully we will catch up with you all later.

Long time no type!

First of all an apoligee to all of you who have begged me to continue my blog.... that I have been neglecting. I am Sorry... I will try and do better. Now on to all that is going on in our world.

We as a family went to Galveston Island again this year for vacation... it was fabulous. We had a great time. We had mom and Dawn and Evans brother Joe along with us. Though the weather was alittle overcast the beach was still great. Cody turned 13 down there and the boys kidnapped him and took him to Hooters to celebrate. Cody says they have great hot wings.... what is it with hot wings and Hooters?

School lets out here in 4 days. I am not sure I am ready for the summer just yet... however the kids are. I am still working and still loving it. Cody is in baseball right now, nearly every night. He has turned into quite the first baseman. He has band camp early in June. It will be the first time he is away from home by himself... makes me kind of anxious. Abby is her normal cheerful funny self. She has started her summer off riding horses with Pa. I think he will be my little cowgirl. She just seems to have a natural thing for it.

Evan is of coarse about to leave... like next week. Headed back to the middle east. We think about 3 months this time. He has been spending loads of time in Little Rock either for the base inspection or getting ready for this deployment. It is tiresome but he is hanging in there like a trooper.

Me? I am just trying to remain sane through all the chaos right now. Many of you know of the family problems we are having and I ask for your prayers with it.... It will be a long haul to make things better there. Between that, Evan leaving, the kids, my job and everything else I am always on the run lately. It is just crazy sometimes..... but it is nice to be needed I suppose.

I hope that you are all well. i hope to see you soon but if I don't I pray that God watch over you and yours until we get the chance to sit down together once more.

Love Shelly

That Darn Groundhog!

Hey all. It seems that the darn Groundhog has dissapeared down his hole again after seeing his shadow once more. That little fact left this family seeking summer winds even more. Needless to say we have a bit of cabin fever! We are used to being so busy we don't know what to do with ourselves. I guess God decided we needed some rest and relaxation. LOL

Evan has been busy going to the base. It seems he has spent more time there than home lately. They are busy getting ready for inspection in April. Evan was also nominated for Airman of the Quarter, a honor he has had before and won. Though this time he didn't win, but was still honored to have the opperatunity.

Cody and Abby are doing great. Cody travels to Bentonville tommorrow with the chior. He has a band concert next week. He stays pretty busy. He is growing up so very fast! It makes me feel old. I saw a hint of facial hair yesterday and I thought my life was flashing before my eyes! Abby is growing like a weed! We measured her yesterday and she is 4'2". One more foot and she catches up to Dad! She has been learning about manners from the officer at school. Which has made her such a sweetie at home.

I am currently working. I have a patient that I work with 5 days a week 4 hours a day. She is a real sweetie. That makes my job very enjoyable. Of coarse I stay busy running kids and keeping Evan going. He is headed to the base again this weekend. Cody went for the first time last weekend. It was quite the experiance and I think it has had a lasting impact on him. It was time that he he saw what, and who, his dad is. To have a differant understanding of why his dad leaves so often. I am going this weekend (not my first time of coarse). I need to get some paperwork done. The good news is I am meeting a couple of people who I have become friends with through our military roots.

Most everyone I know has either been sick or is sick. So to all of you I don't see that often... Take care of yourselves! Their is some nasty stuff going around out there. Watch your kids, some of those viruses are developing into sudden pnuemonia.

All our love to each and everyone of you. I include you all in my prayers at night. Until we meet again, God Bless.

Back in the saddle again

Hi and hello to all! I know its been awhile but as I stated in my last post we were very busy through christmas. So I will try and catch up with you all now.

Things here are good. We are staying pretty much snuggled up as much as possible through this fridged cold. The kids had a bountifull Chistmas and are still locked away playing with thier new aquirements. We have now turned the corner and are looking forward to spring. That means looking forward to VACATION! It is back to Galveston to our beloved beach front house! Everyone is excited and are already conspiring ideas to win the sand castle building contest.

Last weekend we played paintball with several of our friends. This is a favorite pastime of ours.

This was Codys first time to play with us. He loved it. Now he wants his very own paintball gear for his birthday!

For those who have not heard yet we have gotten word that Evan will be headed to Qatar in June for 3-4 months. Duty calls. But the upshot is that he should be home again for Christmas this year unless something happens that we don't know yet.

So until we meet again dear friends.... may the Lord go with you. Love all of us.

Sleep Walking

Hello to all. We hope you are all well and things a good in your lives. Around here we have all been so busy. I feel like we are sleepwalking at this point. It is always like this during this time of year. Lets see what has been going on....

Cody is busy with school. He played with the band last night at the Jr High football game. It was their first game to play at as 7th graders. He loved it. It was very, very cold. But it was fun. It brought back a rush of memories from my high school days being there at the stadium again. However this marks the end of an era in Harrison. Tonight is the last game to ever be played by the senior high down at the feild on the banks of crooked creek. The new stadium for the high school is nearly finished and will be in use next year.

He has also made the pep band and has received high honors in band for the quarters. His grades are good, and things really seem to be going great for him right now.

Abby has started basketball. Her first game is this Saturday. She currently still has three boyfriends. And she is doing great. Her first quarter went very well. She has great grades and is thriving in school. She had a good Halloween. She dressed in her fairy outfit and passed out candy all night to the barrage of ghouls and goblins that arrived.

Evan is great. Doing the same thing as always. Working and sleeping. Though suddenly he finds his sleep very valuable since he isn't getting any. Chasing the kids turns out to be a hard job after all. He just celebrated his birthday. He turned a whopping 38! It seems he can justify his gray hair with his age!

I am good. We spent last weekend at Stoney's new home. It is beautiful. I am very proud for him. This weekend we are having Evans family up for a chili dinner. It is sort of a late birthday party for Evan. We are trying to nail down holiday plans with everyone. It is just crazy! Cody will probley go to coaches for Thanksgiving and I believe that we are headed to Jim and Judys this year. Let me be the first to thank them for that... I love the idea of getting some free time this year! And of coarse during December we have 4 birthdays, 2 anniverseries, and Christmas 4 times.

So you could say we are all short of sleep and money before this is over. Our family tradition is to sleep through January. LOL

We hope to hear from everyone soon. All our love to all of you. Shelly and the gang!